Bath Festival Choral Project

This is an initiative that has been a long time in the making. Plans to develop a joint schools choir, rehearsing together and then ultimately performing on the main stage at the Bath Festival began back in 2019, but Covid delayed progress.

We are now back to planning with the Bath Festivals team and a group of independent and state schools from across Bath to develop a programme that will re-engage pupils in singing and performing. The ISM report published recently reported that 68% of primary schools and 39% of secondary schools have seen a reduction in music provision over this academic year. This initiative is about providing a rich, inclusive and diverse musical experience for pupils from a wide range of schools and is particularly valuable at this time as pupils seek to emerge from the pandemic and recover important connections and confidence. 

Aims

To contribute to a city wide music recovery plan as pupils begin emerging from the pandemic as well as being part of feeding a wider cultural recovery.

To provide pupils and schools with an inspiration target, looking ahead to a joint performance on the main stage of the Festival in 2022.

To enable young people from all backgrounds and a wide range of schools to find or re-find a love of music and singing. 

 

Background

This is an opportunity that has been in the making for some years now, but it feels that the timing is now perfect as we seek to support pupils as they emerge from the pandemic and restore some of these life-changing opportunities that they have missed in recent months. 

Resources

This project relies upon the support of each partner school and the efforts of the working group in organising key logistics and maintaining a clear decision making process.

It will be led by an independently assigned musical lead and rehearsals will be hosted in all partner schools in the lead up to the final event.  

 

Impact

10 pupils from over 10 schools will have the opportunity to take part in this creative process. Impact will be assessed following the culmination of the project in May 2022.

Pupil Involvement

Senior School aged pupils. 

Frequency

Initial plans are for a minimum of a 10 week programme of rehearsals and creative planning, leading to the main event, but more importantly inspiring the development of further cross-school engagement around music and performing.